delta-allopregnadiene-3beta, 21-diol-20-one 11, 14 peroxide and esters thereof



A5- -ALLoPREGNADlENE-3fifl1=DIOL-20-ONE: 11,14 PEROXIDE AND ESTERS- THEREOF Gerald Laubach, JacksonHeights N; Y., assignor to Chas. Pfizer & (30;, Brooklyn N. Y., a corporation of Delaware No. Drawing. Original applicationMarch 17, 1954,*Se-

rial No. 416,936. Divided and. thisapplication March 18, 1957, Serial No. 646,572

1' Claim. (Cl. mill-23 9.55)

This invention relates to the preparation of 'certain novel steroid intermediates useful in the artificial synthesis of therapeutic agents naturally derived from the adrenal cortex and like animal glands and tissues;

The present application is a division of copending application Serial Number 416,936, filed on March 17, 1954.

Several of the steroid-type constituents and derivatives of the adrenal cortex have been shown to be of considerable importance in the control of physiological functions and in the therapy of certain diseases. It is highly important that synthesis of such. compounds from cheap, readily available materialsbe developed, since the supply of natural precursors, e. g. extracts of animal glands, is-

definitely. limited. The mostdifficult problem in such a synthesis is to introduce oxygen at the eleventh carbon position. of the usual cyclic steroid nucleus; It is gen erally recognizedthat the presenceof oxygenat this exact position is essential forthe high biological activity of such naturally derived compounds-as cortisone and com-,

pound F. A number of different methods have been proposed for this oxygenintroduction. These have beenbriefly reviewed by Kendall in the-Annals of the New York Academy of Science, vol. 50, pp. 541-542 (1949). Many involve a number of steps and the overall yields are relatively low. Other methods have been proposed that require the use of corrosive or highly toxic cherni-. cals, and in many cases purification of the products may be diflicult. Furthermore, the best of these methods are not readily applicable to those steroids which are most widely available, such as the vegetable steroids.

A particular object of this invention is to rearrange the internal molecular structure of certain polyunsaturated cyclic steroids, which are easily and cheaply obtained from vegetable sources, and to efiect the ready and convenient introduction of oxygen at the eleventh carbon atom of the steroid nucleus. r

This and other objects are realized by the present invention which broadly comprises photoperoxidizing a cyclic steroid compound containing conjugated. double bonds at the 9I(11),8(14) positions. The new processis particularly successful, for instance, with 6,9( l'1),8 (14)-- triene steroids, i. e. those containing the radical 2,833,763 Patented May 6, 1958 such as isodehydroergosterol omi mo -on on (in-om H- Iii-CH1 and its esters and ethers. Compounds of this type are described in copending application, Serial No. 222,946, filed April 25, 1951, by Laubach et all and now abandoned, and in a continuation-in-part thereof, Serial No. 416,935, filed March 17, 1954. They are generally prepared by isomerization of 5,7,9(1-1)-triene" steroids,

Photoperoxidationof the F 9(l1),8'('14)-double bonded steroids yields novel product's:wherein' a peroxide bridge extends between the- C and' C position'st Such products thus contain the radical e. g. peroxides ofisodehydroergosterol and itsEest'ers and ethers; In short, :using the well-known'ergoste'ryl acetate as an example, one may dehydrogenate toobtain dehydroergosteryl acetate, isomerize this to yield isodehydro ergosteryl acetate, and finally photoperoxidize the iso met to recover isodehydroergosteryl acetateperoxide, or

ergosta- 6,8('14),9(11),22-tetraen-3fi-yl acetate peroxide.

This compound may also be called A '??-r3ostatrien.-.

It has the following for- 35-01 acetate 11,14-peroxide. mula:

The physical properties of this unusual new compound are as follows:

M. P., 164.6-166.4 C. [al 19 (CHCl A 272 mu (log s=3.61) (ether) Analysis:

Calcd. for C H O C, 76.88; H, 9.46 Found: C, 77.03; H, 9.50.

These constants are slightly difierent from those given in the original application.

As another example of this photoperoxidation reaction one may start with A -allopregnatrien-Sfiol-20-one acetate and convert it to A -alloprcgnadien-3fiol-20-one acetate 11,14-pcroxide. The equation for this reaction is as follows:

CH; COCK; CH

Ac A

This novel product has the following physical constants:

M. P. 147.2-l48.6 C. e 272:3960 [a] +72.6 (CHCl The peroxide compounds thus obtained may be converted directly to the corresponding ll-keto steroid compounds by the relatively simple procedure described in copending application Serial'No. 368,199, now'Patent No. 2,773,885, filed on July 15, 1953, by Gerald D. Laubach et al. This procedure comprises contacting the peroxide with alkali. The result is illustrated by the following equation:

same application also describes a process for re- CH3 coon,

moval of the 14-OH group by acid dehydration, as follows:

CH; CH;

Compounds of the type obtained by this reaction may then be subjected to selective hydrogenation according to the process described in U. S. Patent No. 2,740,797. This process involves contacting the steroid with hydrogen in the presence of W-7 Raney nickel and an alkaline material. By this method both the 6 and 14 double bonds may be saturated, while neither the double bond at the 8 position, nor double bonds which may be present in a side chain such as that of the ergosterol derivatives, are changed. The following equation illustrates this:

AeO A00 This last compound shown, A -ergostadien-3fl-ol-ll-one acetate, is a well-known intermediate for the preparation of cortisone. Many of the other products of this present invention are also extremely valuable for this purpose, especially those which already contain at the 17 position a side chain similar to that of cortisone. Thus,

by a relatively simple method one can elfectively obtain therapeutically valuable cortisone and like intermediates. The new substances contain oxygen at the C position so crucial for high biological activity.

The preferred method of photopcroxidation to obtain this addition of oxygen at 0-11 of the steroid nucleus is by dissolving the chosen steroid in an organic solvent system and contacting the resulting solution with oxy-.

gen. The oxygen may be used in the pure state or as it is found in air, or it may be diluted with inert gases. sentially any known organic solvent which will dissolve the steroid and yet not itself react with the constituents of the reaction system may be utilized. Aromatic hydrocarbons like benzene, toluene, xylene, and so forth; aliphatic or cycloaliphatic hydrocarbons like hexane, low or moderate boiling petroleum fractions, and cyclohexane; or lower alcohols such as ethanol are commercially most desirable, although the lower alcohols have the disadvantage of generally dissolving only a rather limited amount of the steroid.

The oxygen treatment of this steroid solution is etfected in the presence of an oxidation activator and oflight. As the illumination, which is essential for catalyzing the oxidation, sunlight or any artificial source of light which gives approximately the samewave lengths, e. g. incandescent light or a carbon arc, may be used. The dye known as eosin or dyes of related structure are quite suitable to activate the oxygen-addition. Such activators and their function are well known and various alternative materials will readily occur to those skilled in this art. A very small amount of such a compound,

say in the order of' 0.001% (based on the weight of steroid), is used in commercial operation, but a considerably lower proportion will serve. This substance may a j easily be removed from the peroxide product.

In conducting the reaction, the temperature rises more or less rapidly depending upon the rate of aeration, the design-of the equipmen'; andsnfoi-tn. leis-best 'not'to let the temperature rise'above iiljollt 60 C. Tnereaetion proceeds fairly rapidly, generally being completed in less than iabont ten hours I and somet-ir'n'es' iii less than one hour. The rate, of @course, depends to =-a certainextent upon the type of apparatus, the reactants, the temperature and other factors. .Although the steroid molecule may continueto adsorb oxygen after the C-11 addition is completed, the rate is definitely slower; hence by following the course of-oxygen absorption, the reaction may be stopped at the proper point. In a convenient form of apparatus for this reaction, a flask sealed from the atmosphere is attached to a manometer and to a reservoir of air or oxygen so that, while the mixture is agitated, the absorption of the oxygen by the-reaction mixture maybe observed. I A

After completion of the -reaction,"the product may be recovered by any desired means. The solvent is usually removed by distillation andltlie d'ry residue washed free of eosin or other activator with a solvent like methanol. The product-is then recrystallizedpsuch as from a chloroform-methanol mixture according to-conventionalpractice. A yield of at least about 50tpercent of quite pure crystalline product is thus obtained.- If material of extremely high purity is desired, it may lJ'GICCOVBlCdyfOI,

instance, by chromatography of the crystalline material in petroleum ether on alumina. After-development of the column with petroleum ether, gradually-increasing amounts of. benzene are-added to:portion's of the ether and the product is finally removed from the-columnby means of benzene. Crystals of the 'desired peroxide of high purity are then obtained byconcentrating-the benzene eluate.

Isolated double bonds not within the cyclic structure, side chains and othersubstituents of the particular steroid generally have no deleterious effect on oxygen-addition. Thus, the side chains atached to the isodehydroergosteroltype steroid nucleus at the l7-position or the 3-position may be considerably varied without interfering with the reaction. Rather than the unsaturated aliphatic side chain at C17, a compound maybe utilized having a carboxyl, an acetyl, a COCH OH group of esters and others thereof, a spiroketal group or simply an oxygen (i. e. the 17-keto compound) or the like attached at that point. The group at the 3 position may be OH, or an ether or ester group, instead of simply the acetyl group previously mentioned. In a like manner, when the group at the 17 position is .a side chain having OH, e. g.

COCH OH, either the free or an ester or ether thereof may be employed. On either a side, chaidOH or the OH at the ,3. position, useful ester. groups "include, for example, format'e, propionate and benzoate, and useful ether groups include methyl, ethyl and benzyl. -Isodehydroergosterol may readily be prepared from its esters by hydrolysis and then photoperoxidized. However, theisodehydroergoste'ryl" esters are preferred by reasonof availe ability, cost, ease of commercial operation and valueof the isomeric products.

The following examples are given by way of illustration and are not intended as'alimitation of this invention.

hours. The solution was maintained at 30-35 C. by cooling. A vigorous stream of oxygen was passed through the solution during the course of the irradiation. The reaction mixture was then concentrated under vacuum to a mass of colorless platelets, from which most of the eosin dyewasremoved by trituration with cold methanol. The peroxideproduct was obtained as a slightlypink solid, n1e1nn 'poinf'152-t54 C. Theyield 0.890 gram (46%). ortion of this material "(0.435 g.) was chromatogra ned ver'ammi a (activated at 500-600" C.) in a COli'ljfiifi Willi 'adiifilll" of :18 Aftl' lutld'li of the more soluble contaminants With a l:8 be11Zfie-Petroleum ether mixture, the desired product was recovered by elution with 1:4 then 1:2 benzene-petroleum ether washes and finally with benzene-alone. The combined fractions contained the peroxide product in the amount of 0347 gram. Two standard recrystallizations from methanol'yi'elded analytically pure isodehydroergosteryl acetate peroxide as colorless platelets, melting point l64.6l66.4 C.

Example 11 A solution of 0.874 gram (0.002 mole) of ergosta-6, 8(14),9(1l),22 tetraen-3[3-yl acetate ([u] '=78) in 10 ml. of anhydrous benzene wasmixed with 5 ml. of ethanol containing 0.050 gram eosin. The mixture was stirred in aclosed system under a positive oxygen pres sure of 1 atmosphere. The reaction vessel was illuminated with a500 watt, 120 volt floodlamp and cooled in a bath maintained at 7.5-9.5 C. After minutes one mole of oxygen had been adsorbed and the rate of oxygen uptake, asobserved onthe manometer of the apparatus, decreasedrsharply. After removal of some precipitated eosin, the reaction mixture was concentrated under vacuum to a partially crystalline mass, which on trituration with "20 ml.of'cold methanol yielded the desired peroxide as colorless platelets. This product weighed 0.820 gram, indicating a yield of 87.5%. It was chromatographed over 24 grams .of alumina (activated at '500600 C.) ina 25 mm. column and impurities were removed as before with petroleum ether, 8:1 petroleum ether-benzene mixture, and benzene alone. The resulting purified isodehydroergosteryl acetate peroxide weighed 0.380 gram, being recovered in a yield of 41.5%. p

The equation for therea'ctiom-in this example and in ExampleL-is as follows:

AeO

7 Example 111 various ester and ether groups in the 3 position instead of the acetate group present in Example II. Useful groups .include, for example, formate, propionate and 5 equation for this reaction is as follows:

benzoate among the esters, and methyl, ethyl and benzy among the ethers. The reaction was also carried out with the 3-OH group unprotected. None of these changes in the group at the 3 position had any effect on the overall reaction, and peroxide formation took place in exactly the same manner as before.

Example IV The procedure of, Example II was repeated, using A -allopregnatrien-Iifl-ol--one-acetate as the starting steroid. Peroxide formation took place as previously described, and the product was A -allopregnzv dien-SB-ol-ZO-one acetate 11,14-peroxide. The equation for this reactionis as follows:

CODES CH3 Example VI The procedure of Example H was repeated using A -allopregnatrien-3;8,21-diol-2O-one diacetate as the starting steroid. Peroxide formation took place as previously described, and the product was A -allopregnadien-3p,21-diol-20-one diacetate 11,14 peroxide. The

C 0 OHaOAc AcO Example VII 1 .The procedure of Example VI was repeated, using various ester and ether groups in the 3 and 21 positions instead of the acetate groups present in Example VI. Useful groups include, for example, formate, propionate and benzoate among the esters, and methyl, ethyl and benzyl among the ethers. The reaction was also carried out with the 3 and 21-0H groups unprotected. None of these changes in the groups at the 3 and 21 positions had any etfect on the overall reaction, and peroxide formation took place in exactly the same manner as before.

What is claimed is:

A steroid compound having the formula wherein R is selected from the class consisting of -COCH OH' and its formate, acetate, propionate and benzoate esters, ancl R is selected from the class consisting of 0H and formate, acetate, propionate and benzoate ester groups.

References Cited in the file of this patent Laubach et al.: J. A. C. 8., vol. 75, pp. l514-15l5 (1953). t 

